i'm now connected with Iligan Light and Power, Inc, would you believe, as a PROGRAMMER? basically i've just completed my career switch process (haha murag big deal) from being a Physics instructor to the IT field.
anyway, that's really not important to the story right now. what i really want is to share this amazing hallmark moment of my kids. ehehehe...
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
balance
I had a great time singing at Dzyr Resto-bar last night. It felt so great that we sang for two hours longer than usual. Yep. We sang from 7:30 until 12:00 midnight, dividing our songs into two sets only. That would work out to about 2 hours per set! Anyway, I lost my voice in the end, but it was worth it. hehehe.
Sadly, life has a funny way of sneaking up on you and slapping you in the face with an anaconda when you start to let down your guard. I got that slapping this morning - I lost my phone.
Need I say more?
Sadly, life has a funny way of sneaking up on you and slapping you in the face with an anaconda when you start to let down your guard. I got that slapping this morning - I lost my phone.
Need I say more?
Monday, January 22, 2007
derek & mulan
you were a sunbeam across my dark, dusty cell,
showing me a single bright spot on the roof
where you entered, without warning and without hesitation
to pry my eyes open with your warmth and light
and for the first time i saw
where the voices were coming from
and who they were, that they weren't inside my head
but from my closed heart, waiting
to be set free and out of their cages
to allow me to feel again, emotions
long shunned and shut in,
to never be heard from or felt again
as the bright spot grows with you
my eyes see more, (i see a little outside now)
and sights i'd long forgotten wash over me
pulsing, surging, almost drowning me
but not quite.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
iSysDev Kids
click to view larger image
this is something i cooked up as a demo image for the iSysDev team shirt image. comments are welcome.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
B L O C K
BLOCK
By Thabet-Abbas C. Burias
The air conditioner hummed loudly in the corner of the small room – the only sound in the night, as far as he was concerned.
Getting up from his bed suddenly, the man rushed over to his bag and took out his two good pencils. Then, placing them on top of his pillow, he tried to think of what he could write on. A quick glance around the room revealed nothing: a chair, a television set, some dirty laundry strewn about at odd angles, and a guitar case.
“I have got to get this place cleaned,” he muttered to himself as he continued to search the room, seeing for the first time that it looked like something out of a disaster story. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes wearily, sinking to his knees to reach the twin drawers under his bed. Left or right? The first phrases were leaving his head fast.
He had had first paragraphs of stories occasionally pop into his head as he lay half-asleep on the lower bunk of the double-decker. Most of the time he would simply dismiss them with a sigh, too lazy to write them down. Why did they always come as he was falling asleep, and almost never on demand? This time, however, he chose to put them on paper.
“Aha!” He smiled as a prospector would smile at the sight of a gold nugget, only this nugget was the corner of a green folder, buried under tons of accumulated laundry. Making a mental note to get the clothes washed soon, he pulled out the folder and pushed the drawer closed with his free hand. A small checklist ran through his mind by reflex.
Pencils – check.
Paper – In the folder, check.
Coffee –
“I can do without that,” he thought as he sank into a comfortable position, seated on his bed. Excitedly, like a child on Christmas morning, the man clicked the folder open and rummaged through its contents until he found several blank sheets of writing paper. Then, taking his pencil and a giant breath in one grand gesture, he wrote
The night was quiet in the…
His thoughts trailed off.
He tried to recall what had gotten him so excited in the first place, but couldn’t find it in his head. Frustrated, the writer took another deep breath and put down the pencil. He checked the watch on his right wrist. The date was just about to turn from 28 to 29. It’s going to be tomorrow soon, he thought.
The sound of the air conditioner seemed louder than its usual hum, bordering dangerously close to annoying. On an average night, it would have helped him relax, like a car engine to a baby. He had read that somewhere, babies fall asleep faster in a car because the engine’s purr is similar to the sounds in the womb.
Then he remembered. He was thinking about the sound of the appliance and how it would make a nice first sentence to a story. Once again he picked up his pencil and wrote under the first line
The night was quiet in the…
The air conditioner hummed loudly in the corner of the small room – the only sound in the night, as far as he was concerned.
Looking at the three rows of letters, he decided that the second one rang better than the first, and proceeded to cross out the unwanted line.
---The-night-was-quiet-in-the…---
The air conditioner hummed loudly in the corner of the small room – the only sound in the night, as far as he was concerned.
That accomplished, he began to organize the random thoughts in his head, but thought it better to just write as the thoughts came.
He remembered how he had thought about writing about writing, and then later on, about the act itself of writing. He pictured writers in their medium, going through the “pre-writing” rituals. He saw them tense, like coiled springs, arrows sitting in a taut bowstring, waiting to be released.
However, as he sat there drifting, the thoughts never came. The blank piece of paper he had been so excited to fill just a few seconds ago remained blank, except for the few lines he managed to squeeze out of his head. He thought: Oh, well, there goes another story.
With that, he put away his pencils, folded the barren piece of paper and slid it inside his folder...
By Thabet-Abbas C. Burias
The air conditioner hummed loudly in the corner of the small room – the only sound in the night, as far as he was concerned.
Getting up from his bed suddenly, the man rushed over to his bag and took out his two good pencils. Then, placing them on top of his pillow, he tried to think of what he could write on. A quick glance around the room revealed nothing: a chair, a television set, some dirty laundry strewn about at odd angles, and a guitar case.
“I have got to get this place cleaned,” he muttered to himself as he continued to search the room, seeing for the first time that it looked like something out of a disaster story. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes wearily, sinking to his knees to reach the twin drawers under his bed. Left or right? The first phrases were leaving his head fast.
He had had first paragraphs of stories occasionally pop into his head as he lay half-asleep on the lower bunk of the double-decker. Most of the time he would simply dismiss them with a sigh, too lazy to write them down. Why did they always come as he was falling asleep, and almost never on demand? This time, however, he chose to put them on paper.
“Aha!” He smiled as a prospector would smile at the sight of a gold nugget, only this nugget was the corner of a green folder, buried under tons of accumulated laundry. Making a mental note to get the clothes washed soon, he pulled out the folder and pushed the drawer closed with his free hand. A small checklist ran through his mind by reflex.
Pencils – check.
Paper – In the folder, check.
Coffee –
“I can do without that,” he thought as he sank into a comfortable position, seated on his bed. Excitedly, like a child on Christmas morning, the man clicked the folder open and rummaged through its contents until he found several blank sheets of writing paper. Then, taking his pencil and a giant breath in one grand gesture, he wrote
The night was quiet in the…
His thoughts trailed off.
He tried to recall what had gotten him so excited in the first place, but couldn’t find it in his head. Frustrated, the writer took another deep breath and put down the pencil. He checked the watch on his right wrist. The date was just about to turn from 28 to 29. It’s going to be tomorrow soon, he thought.
The sound of the air conditioner seemed louder than its usual hum, bordering dangerously close to annoying. On an average night, it would have helped him relax, like a car engine to a baby. He had read that somewhere, babies fall asleep faster in a car because the engine’s purr is similar to the sounds in the womb.
Then he remembered. He was thinking about the sound of the appliance and how it would make a nice first sentence to a story. Once again he picked up his pencil and wrote under the first line
The night was quiet in the…
The air conditioner hummed loudly in the corner of the small room – the only sound in the night, as far as he was concerned.
Looking at the three rows of letters, he decided that the second one rang better than the first, and proceeded to cross out the unwanted line.
---The-night-was-quiet-in-the…---
The air conditioner hummed loudly in the corner of the small room – the only sound in the night, as far as he was concerned.
That accomplished, he began to organize the random thoughts in his head, but thought it better to just write as the thoughts came.
He remembered how he had thought about writing about writing, and then later on, about the act itself of writing. He pictured writers in their medium, going through the “pre-writing” rituals. He saw them tense, like coiled springs, arrows sitting in a taut bowstring, waiting to be released.
However, as he sat there drifting, the thoughts never came. The blank piece of paper he had been so excited to fill just a few seconds ago remained blank, except for the few lines he managed to squeeze out of his head. He thought: Oh, well, there goes another story.
With that, he put away his pencils, folded the barren piece of paper and slid it inside his folder...
derek
Looking through the clear glass windows of the nursery the father saw his newborn son stirring under his blankets, obviously uncomfortable with the intravenous tubes attached to his tiny foot. For the past three days he had taken that post, watching his child, wondering when he would finally be able to hold him and welcome him into the world.
A glance at the clock on the wall of the nursery told him that he should probably be getting some sleep already. He stifled a yawn and wiped his eyes as the baby began to cry, hungry. Worried about the baby’s crying, the father started looking around inside the nursery through the windows for any sign of the nurse. As sigh of relief left him as he saw movement in one corner inside the tiny room, but he could not see what it was. She came into view a moment later, his son’s baby bottle in hand, as she walked calmly to where his child was sleeping. She lifted up the baby and laid him on her lap, the back of his neck resting on her arm as she carefully put the nipple to the baby’s mouth. Instinctively the baby opened its mouth and moved its head around urgently, trying to catch the nipple. The father heaved another sigh, not one of relief but of awe, fogging the window and momentarily hiding the suckling infant inside from his view. Wiping the mist off the glass, he saw that his son was fast asleep as the nurse returned him to his bed, careful of the dextrose tubes as she tucked him in. Walking away from the window, he whispered goodnight to his son, then started towards the stairs leading to their room in the hospital.
His wife was fast asleep as he gingerly opened the door to let himself into the dimly lit room. He walked over to the bed and sat down beside his sleeping wife, this time finishing a yawn. He felt a shiver run down his spine and decided that the air-conditioner was set too high, but went on to lay down on the bed, too sleepy to care about the cold. Pulling gently on his wife’s blanket, he covered up part of his leg and drifted off to sleep amid thoughts of carrying his son in his arms.
A glance at the clock on the wall of the nursery told him that he should probably be getting some sleep already. He stifled a yawn and wiped his eyes as the baby began to cry, hungry. Worried about the baby’s crying, the father started looking around inside the nursery through the windows for any sign of the nurse. As sigh of relief left him as he saw movement in one corner inside the tiny room, but he could not see what it was. She came into view a moment later, his son’s baby bottle in hand, as she walked calmly to where his child was sleeping. She lifted up the baby and laid him on her lap, the back of his neck resting on her arm as she carefully put the nipple to the baby’s mouth. Instinctively the baby opened its mouth and moved its head around urgently, trying to catch the nipple. The father heaved another sigh, not one of relief but of awe, fogging the window and momentarily hiding the suckling infant inside from his view. Wiping the mist off the glass, he saw that his son was fast asleep as the nurse returned him to his bed, careful of the dextrose tubes as she tucked him in. Walking away from the window, he whispered goodnight to his son, then started towards the stairs leading to their room in the hospital.
His wife was fast asleep as he gingerly opened the door to let himself into the dimly lit room. He walked over to the bed and sat down beside his sleeping wife, this time finishing a yawn. He felt a shiver run down his spine and decided that the air-conditioner was set too high, but went on to lay down on the bed, too sleepy to care about the cold. Pulling gently on his wife’s blanket, he covered up part of his leg and drifted off to sleep amid thoughts of carrying his son in his arms.
Silent Chorus
Silent Chorus
Thabet-Abbas C. Burias
It’s 2:05 in the morning and I can’t get myself to sleep. The stars outside are blinking a silent chorus, causing me to remember that night when the stars also blinked a silent chorus for an audience of two.
The sun was still a long way from rising on Wednesday, February 5, 2003. A cool breeze and a slight drizzle kept us company as we talked for hours on the open terrace, oblivious to the rest of the world, taking time off only to notice the star ocean above us. Topic upon topic came and went, but still we refused to admit that we were getting sleepy, tingling all over almost as if sensing some big event about to happen, like the night before your birthday and you can’t wait to open your presents.
We had been sitting there side-by-side since early that night, rubbing elbows, enjoying a conversation that was there solely to relieve the tension from what we both knew was coming. For the past few days our schedule had been the same: after I worked, I could come and pick her up, and we would go wherever we felt like going. We almost never planned our gimmicks, and the one time we did plan to go to the movies, we arrived too late for the last full show, and we ended up in this small, but cozy café near her place.
By 2:30AM, the breeze had turned from cool to cold, and we had to lean on each other’s side for warmth. Although we had sat beside each other so many times, it was the first time I had ever been that close to her. I had never even held her hand, and yet I might as well have been hugging her tightly, because the surge of emotion you get from simply feeling the bare skin of someone you are attracted to against yours is so overwhelming that to hold her hand would just be icing on the cake at that moment. The tingling I was talking about had now intensified to the point where I had to hold myself back from blurting out how I felt, and I could tell that she was going through the same ordeal. I could no longer hear the words she was saying, since all my thoughts were focused on the warmth of her shoulder against mine. Nothing else mattered during that moment. It was just her and me in our warm bubble, surrounded by the cold predawn breeze and the tiny drizzle drops that touched your skin as if to remind you that there really still are beautiful things left in the world.
All my senses were screaming inside me as I looked into her gentle eyes and her soft, Katie Holmes mouth. I LOVE YOU! CAN’T YOU SEE?! I LOVE YOU! Please let me hold you. I have been wanting to hold you since you first smiled at me and knocked me out of my senses. My chest was pounding right then and there. I am thankful now for the dim light of the terrace, which hid my deep-red face. My only thought was to try to find a way to get her hand in mine. What happened next, I will never forget. Either I was too transparent, or she had read my mind.
I had been telling jokes a lot that night, trying to hide the nervousness I was feeling to the bones. I started to notice that as she laughed, she had begun to hit me playfully on the arm at the same time. I took this as my cue. I gathered up my guts and, as I finished my next joke, caught her hand with the skill of a trapeze artist as it hit my arm. Surprisingly, she made no attempt to get it back. Later, as I turned my head towards her and looked, I saw that she was smiling at me. She had seen through me. She had read my mind, and she liked what she read. I found myself caught in her gaze as we looked deep into each other’s eyes.
Surrounded by tiny drizzle drops, we kissed our first kiss under a silent chorus of glittering stars at 3:00AM.
If you are ever wondering what her side of that night’s story is, you can ask her yourself, or I can ask her for you. She is now my wife, and we now have a son and a daughter.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
finally
after a year of inactivity, i've finally gotten off my lazy ass and decided to update my blog. expect some changes here in the coming weeks.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
after the final interview
it's been two days since the final interview at eTelecare, they said they would call me on on before friday if i got in. today is thursday.
i can't even write sensibly anymore. my hands have been trembling since yesterday. my heart seems to be pumping twice as fast, non-stop.
at this rate, i'll either suffer a heart attack or lose my mind. i have never been made to wait this long after a job interview.
i think it's a bad sign, being told that "we'll give you a call before the end of the week if you made it."
i have been coming ang going to cebu for the series of exams, interviews, and still more interviews with the company. i made it through the exams ok, and the first three interviews went smoothly, until the final.
it was role-playing(now who would have thought i'd cringe at the sound of that, being a gamer?), and i had to receive this call from the interviewer acting as a customer. to make a long story short, the call went smoothly until the customer started to act rudely, after which my whole world came crashing down. between the stuttering and the ah, er, uhms? silence.
still, i managed to make it through with the guidance of the interviewer, who was ever-friendly and encouraging. i saw that as a good sign until she said those words that for days i had been praying i would never hear in an interview: "we'll give you a call..." her voice faded slowly away as my head began spinning other job opportunities in the city. i had to find and snag a secondary application before i went home to davao!
which leads me here in an internet cafe, scouring the web for job ads and whatnot.
i still haven't lost all hope in the eTelecare Tech Support Position, I speak and write very good english (perfect score in the TOEFL), i have great grades, i've been working with and speaking in front of people for four years, and i know computers. =) so i'll wait or that golden call which will set the mood for the next years of me and my family's lives.
so help me God.
i can't even write sensibly anymore. my hands have been trembling since yesterday. my heart seems to be pumping twice as fast, non-stop.
at this rate, i'll either suffer a heart attack or lose my mind. i have never been made to wait this long after a job interview.
i think it's a bad sign, being told that "we'll give you a call before the end of the week if you made it."
i have been coming ang going to cebu for the series of exams, interviews, and still more interviews with the company. i made it through the exams ok, and the first three interviews went smoothly, until the final.
it was role-playing(now who would have thought i'd cringe at the sound of that, being a gamer?), and i had to receive this call from the interviewer acting as a customer. to make a long story short, the call went smoothly until the customer started to act rudely, after which my whole world came crashing down. between the stuttering and the ah, er, uhms? silence.
still, i managed to make it through with the guidance of the interviewer, who was ever-friendly and encouraging. i saw that as a good sign until she said those words that for days i had been praying i would never hear in an interview: "we'll give you a call..." her voice faded slowly away as my head began spinning other job opportunities in the city. i had to find and snag a secondary application before i went home to davao!
which leads me here in an internet cafe, scouring the web for job ads and whatnot.
i still haven't lost all hope in the eTelecare Tech Support Position, I speak and write very good english (perfect score in the TOEFL), i have great grades, i've been working with and speaking in front of people for four years, and i know computers. =) so i'll wait or that golden call which will set the mood for the next years of me and my family's lives.
so help me God.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
my name is mulan
my name is Haifa Mulan. born on the 23rd of May 2005, I am a girl. i possess a weapon far more powerful than anything in a baby girl's arsenal. dimples on both of my cheeks! hahaha! watch out, world, here i come!
Monday, May 16, 2005
anyway
mga dude!
if ur ever in digos drop me a line on 09174596460, maybe we could arrange a skimsession.
the waves here are best at around 3:00pm onwards. 3-4 foot waves at 7-9 second intervals.
the sand is slightly sloped, giving you amazing speed as you run for the wave, but flattens out by the time you drop your board. the waves break at around 15-30ft from the sand. su-weeet!!!
cya!
if ur ever in digos drop me a line on 09174596460, maybe we could arrange a skimsession.
the waves here are best at around 3:00pm onwards. 3-4 foot waves at 7-9 second intervals.
the sand is slightly sloped, giving you amazing speed as you run for the wave, but flattens out by the time you drop your board. the waves break at around 15-30ft from the sand. su-weeet!!!
cya!
latest boards
whew. my back is aching right now from all the sanding and trimming of skimboards. four boards in two weeks. the polyester resin is clogging up my airways.
anyway, here are some pics of the boards. the white one and the red/black sandskater are mine, the yellow one is about to go home with its new owner.
anyway, here are some pics of the boards. the white one and the red/black sandskater are mine, the yellow one is about to go home with its new owner.
Monday, April 25, 2005
worst skim session
yesterday was skimming hell. the tide was so low it was almost impossoble to see any waves, plus the shoreline was riddled with broken corals and pebbles that if i tripped and fell, that would be it for me.
added to the fact that my skim buddies never showed and i waited for two hours, well.. i'd say hell pretty much describes the beach yesterday for me.
the next time i skim will be next weekend at the earliest. i hope things get better by then.
added to the fact that my skim buddies never showed and i waited for two hours, well.. i'd say hell pretty much describes the beach yesterday for me.
the next time i skim will be next weekend at the earliest. i hope things get better by then.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
skim digos
i'm thinking about building a website about the digos skimboarding scene. there has been a lot of growth since last year, when i could probably name less than 5 serious skimboarders in this city. now i get a lot of orders for custom boards and i see that it's only getting bigger.
so probably starting next month, i'm going to get out to the beach more often to take some waveshots and stuff. maybe it'll attract more skimmers from out of town to try this skimboarding haven we have: around 3 kilometers of prime skimboarding beach!
so probably starting next month, i'm going to get out to the beach more often to take some waveshots and stuff. maybe it'll attract more skimmers from out of town to try this skimboarding haven we have: around 3 kilometers of prime skimboarding beach!
it's a lazy day
it's a lazy day and i've got nothing really good to do. i wanted to skim early but i have to hold classes. so maybe later. i also have to finish these two skimboards i have to deliver by saturday, and i'm not even halfway done yet. so i'll be catching u later!
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
something about the suspense killing someone...
the suspense is killing me. i have been informed that i just got admitted into the PhD Physics program at the University of Idaho, and that the official letters will get to me soon.
that was a week ago.
now i look out the window everytime a motorcycle goes by the house, hoping it brings letters from the university.
whew! it's killing me.
that was a week ago.
now i look out the window everytime a motorcycle goes by the house, hoping it brings letters from the university.
whew! it's killing me.
skimboarding heaven!!!
whooohooo!!!
i just learned the "one-step-drop," the most essential step to being able to waveride on a skimboard. it's actually quite embarrassing, the way i learned. a friend was asking me to teach him how to skimboard, so we went to the beach, me, my bro, and the two friends. when we arrived, the beach was perfect! as in perfect waves on perfect sand.
we skimmed for about a couple of hours, catching a few waves now and then, when i suddenly noticed how glen, the friend, was mounting his skimboard. yes, it was the one-step-drop. the exact mount i've been trying to learn since i began skimboarding. so i approached him and asked how he was doing it. he described it to me, and i tried it.
nailed it on the first try.
as it turned out, there was only one mistake i was making. i needed to twist my body a little ion order to get on the board in one step. whew.
the teacher becomes the pupil.
i don't care, though, since the move just opened up a new world of skimboarding for me.
photo courtesy of SkimOnline.com
i just learned the "one-step-drop," the most essential step to being able to waveride on a skimboard. it's actually quite embarrassing, the way i learned. a friend was asking me to teach him how to skimboard, so we went to the beach, me, my bro, and the two friends. when we arrived, the beach was perfect! as in perfect waves on perfect sand.
we skimmed for about a couple of hours, catching a few waves now and then, when i suddenly noticed how glen, the friend, was mounting his skimboard. yes, it was the one-step-drop. the exact mount i've been trying to learn since i began skimboarding. so i approached him and asked how he was doing it. he described it to me, and i tried it.
nailed it on the first try.
as it turned out, there was only one mistake i was making. i needed to twist my body a little ion order to get on the board in one step. whew.
the teacher becomes the pupil.
i don't care, though, since the move just opened up a new world of skimboarding for me.
photo courtesy of SkimOnline.com
Friday, April 15, 2005
aaaaarrrrgh!!!
hypocrite - a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he/she does not hold.
a pretentious, self-righteous, know-it-all, holier-than-thou worm that should be left under the sun until he/she curls up and withers away.
these people think they are better than everybody else, and go around blatantly announcing to the world their prejudice against those with less money than them. they seem to think that they can buy people. they help you one minute, not telling you that they expect something in return. LIKE YOUR SOUL! or eternal servitude!
they smile at their best friends' faces, telling them that they mean so much, and then curse them behind their backs.
they brag about being soooo nice, soooo patient, soooo religious, when everybody knows that they believe they can buy their salvation, as well as everything else, with their money.
they should do us all a favor and bury themselves.
i am not in a good mood today. i think it shows.
a pretentious, self-righteous, know-it-all, holier-than-thou worm that should be left under the sun until he/she curls up and withers away.
these people think they are better than everybody else, and go around blatantly announcing to the world their prejudice against those with less money than them. they seem to think that they can buy people. they help you one minute, not telling you that they expect something in return. LIKE YOUR SOUL! or eternal servitude!
they smile at their best friends' faces, telling them that they mean so much, and then curse them behind their backs.
they brag about being soooo nice, soooo patient, soooo religious, when everybody knows that they believe they can buy their salvation, as well as everything else, with their money.
they should do us all a favor and bury themselves.
i am not in a good mood today. i think it shows.
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